CHAPTER VIII

A Year In The Oshkosh Normal School

In this latest "adventure in education," orforeducation, there had already come to me several new experiences--these new experiences and many others to follow, constituting, as they always do, thee "adventure." The railroad trip of one hundred and fifteen miles from kenosha to Oshkosh was the longest journey of any sort that I had ever taken. Arriving the previous evening, I had written my name in a hotel register for the first time; I had spent my first night in a hotel; I had eaten my breakfast in a large dining room which had been entered with uncertainty. Breakfast over, I started out to find the normal school, walking west, or westerly, on Algoma Street, as directed.

Right here, let me say, that I was then and am still doubtful about directions in Oshkosh. The roads in Kenosha County and the streets of Kenosha, almost without exception, are laid out on north and south, or east and west lines, in accord with the original government survey. Having been brought up on such "cardinal principles" it was difficult to orient myself in a city planned "on the bias." It is still with considerable hesitancy that I mention directions in Oshkosh; "westerly" or "easterly" is the nearest I can come to it.

It was near the end of my walk that a man stepped up beside me and asked if I were going to the normal school. A glance showed me that this middle-aged man was Robert Graham, whom I had seen before, and of whose work in Kenosha County I had often heard. He did not know me, but when he learned that I was from Kenosha, inquiries followed about people and affairs that put me quite at ease and changed my attitude of mind towards him. I had heard accounts of his austerity, of his severe discipline as a teacher, and of his use of cutting sarcasm in classes and in institutes.

Upon entering thee building, he took me directly to President George S. Albee, who also seemed glad to know that I was from Kenosha. To him I presented my credentials. A printed form was used by superintendents in nominating candidates for admission to state normal schools. I preserved this interesting old paper, the autograph;h signature of which is especially valued. It reads: "I nominate the bearer, Miss Mary Davison of the City of Kenosha, County of Kenosha, as a candidate for admission to the State Normal School of Oshkosh and certify that she is 19 years of age, is in sound health, and possesses a good moral character, [Signed] H. M. Simmons, City Superintendent of Schools."

Before continuing my recital of further personal experiences, I will tell briefly of the associations with Kenosha of the two men just mentioned. George S. Albee was the principal of the Kenosha high school for three years, 1865-68, and is remembered for his vigorous administration and very severe discipline. He also supervised the lower grades, and instances of the severe punishment meted out by him to boys who had caused a teacher trouble have been told me by men who, as children in the lower grades, had witnessed these shocking scenes. In this he was not exceptional, for corporal punishment of pupils seems to have been a regular practice. But that he changed his ideas on this subject, warned teachers in training against corporal punishment, and advised a different sort treatment of children, I have abundant reason to know.

President Albee was a native of the state of New York and was graduated from Ann Arbor in 1864; so the responsibility of the Kenosha position came quite early in his career. He left Kenosha to go to Racine, where he was superintendent of the public schools from 1869 to 1871. At that time "superintendent" in Racine meant more than it did in Kenosha, the work requiring all of a man's time. From Racine he went to Oshkosh and became the first president of the third state normal of Wisconsin, which opened there in the fall of 1871. He held that position twenty-seven years.

Robert Graham was remembered in Kenosha as a successful teacher, his association with District No. 2, Somers, being that of which I most often heard. This large country school located on the Burlington Road, not far from town, won a notable reputation under his charge. Mrs. Dwight Burgess of Bristol, one of his early pupils, said to me, "I tell you, we learned! Discipline was severe when compared with modern standards, but he taught!" He was principal of Grammar School No. 2, Kenosha, in the early sixties. This was located in the old high school building of 1849. The records at Madison state that Robert Graham was the superintendent of schools of Kenosha County in 1865. This was the same year in which Mr. Albee began his work at Kenosha. Their probable acquaintanceship may account for Mr. Graham being a member of the first faculty of the Oshkosh Normal School, where he held the position of institute conductor, the place next in rank and salary to that of president. He was, in 1871, president of the State Teachers' Association, which gives evidence of his professional standing in the state at that time.

The reputation of these two men in our county probably accounted for the greater popularity in its early years of the Oshkosh Normal School over that of Whitewater, even though the latter was nearer Kenosha.

A physical peculiarity of President Albee was strabismus in one eye, which caused it to turn outward. It seems to have been a cause of special worry to those who were inclined to do irregular things when they thought they were not seen. The common complaint was, "I could never tell when he was looking at me," or "I didn't know he saw me and so was caught."

If I were to name any peculiarity of Mr. Graham, it would be best expressed in these words:
Seldom he smiled, and smiled in such a sort
As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything

However, this comparison, aside from seriousness of countenance is not altogether apt; for certainly there was nothing like "a lean and hungry look," and his intimate friends said that he had a sense of humor.

Mr. Graham was state superintendent from 1882 to 1887. In a recent letter Charles L. Harper, of the State Department of Public Instruction, says, "I think he was one of the most serious-minded men that ever held the office. I knew Mr. Graham very well when he was State Superintendent."

My first ordeal was the entrance examination, which seems to have left no impression on my memory, and was probably not a severe one. There was also the troublesome question of a place to live. Fortunately a pleasant, good-looking young woman invited me to dinner at her boarding house that first noon, and afterward asked me to be her room mate. She was Helen Sizer of Fond du Lac County. I accepted her proposal and so before my first day closed, another important problem was settled. Miss Sizer had attended the normal previously, and had returned after a teaching experience. She knew the ways of the school world and proved helpful to me many times.

We had in the same boarding house a young woman named Kate Kane who afterwards became rather famous as a lawyer, at a time when that profession was unique for a woman. That she was entirely independent and untrammeled by ordinary conventions, is shown by the fact that she wore her hair cut short. This was regarded then as showing very unfeminine tendencies, to which her success is extemporaneous debate gave added evidence. After years of study, she was admitted to the bar in Wisconsin. She suffered, not always with meekness of spirit, many of the trials that women entering a new profession are apt to encounter. After some experience in Washington, D. C., she followed the practice of law in Chicago for many years.

The Building

The normal school building in 1875 was a conspicuous structure for that time. It was located on a slight elevation and loomed up over a high basement, for three full stories and an attic. It was surmounted by a tall turreted tower and a lofty weather vane. In 1870 it was completed at a cost of $70,000 to which the citizens of Oshkosh contributed $30,000, raised by a special tax levy. After completion, its opening was postponed a year on account of lack of state funds.

The lower floor was used by the "Model School," as the school for observation and practice was then called. On the second floor was the assembly room, the office of the president, and several classrooms. The third floor was used entirely for classrooms. "On the northeast side there was a two-story extension containing recitation rooms, two on each floor. In all there were eighteen rooms usable for offices and classrooms...."1

The Assembly Room

I recall distinctly the assembly room entered from the south side by a wide central door, with the seats facing the entrance. Although it would accommodate less than 800, the room seemed enormous to me. It was the study room of the school since there was no library. There was a platform on each side of the entrance, with the piano on one side and a desk and chairs for the faculty on the other. From this platform the opening exercises were conducted. As handled by President Albee, they were an energizing, guiding influence in the life of the school. At a quarter of nine the faculty were all seated. Mr. Albee, with head bent a little forward and eyes looking down, rose and quietly took his place at the desk. The assembly felt the presence of a strong personality. He always spoke deliberately, in a conversational tone; his voice of fine carrying quality was easily heard throughout the room.

The program opened with a song, after which, according to the custom of the time, a passage from the Bible was read, followed by a short prayer. Then came notices and a brief talk on some question of school policy, or on a topic of general educational interest. Later on, after the Supreme Court decision in the Edgerton Bible case, there was substituted for the Bible reading, so I am told, the reading of a selection from some noted author, or from current literature. I could hardly conceive of starting the day without these enjoyable exercises, which reminded me of those I had known in high school under Mr. Durkee. Students carried away from the normal school this practice, and I remember graduates producing in high schools a very excellent replica of the programs witnessed at their Alma Mater, and with undoubtedly beneficial effects.

The Faculty

The faculty of 1875 consisted of nine regular teachers, including the president, who was scheduled for the teaching of school management, and mental and social science. The others were Robert Graham, vocal music, reading, and conductor of institutes; William A. Kellerman, natural sciences; Mortimer T. Park, bookkeeping and calisthenics; Miss Anna W. Moody, history, rhetoric, and English literature; Miss Mary H. Ladd, mathematics; Mrs. Helen E. Bateman, English grammar and composition; Miss Rose C. Swart, geography and penmanship; Miss Emily T. Webster, Latin. There was a special teacher of German, Henry Marin, and one of drawing, Frances Taylor.

Leadership and Progress

Very early in its history, the Oshkosh Normal School because distinguished for its progressive policies. It led in certain movements for the adaptation of the training school for teachers to the demands of changing social order. While President Albee was reasonably conservative in his general attitude and could never be accused of anything like a sensational educational pose, he was open-minded and alert; he had the courage and ability to work against indifference and opposition for what he believed to be the best for his beloved institution. These new features and functions did not come at one stroke. President Albee moved towards his ideals just as rapidly as the Board of Regents would approve and provide for these new progressive steps. There were instances when he did not wait for more than the approval. When he found that he could not have the money from the board for a desired change or for some additional feature, he financed it himself, or did it with the help of his faculty, and in at least one recorded instance, with the financial aid of the student body--another illustration of the general rule that for the initial step in progressive educational or social movements, society is usually indebted to the far-sightedness, the philanthropy, and the self-sacrifice of one or more individuals.

For instance, he wanted music to be a part of the course offered to teachers in training. The board demurred at once, but they did not forbid it, and he was left to get it if he could through "moral suasion" exercised upon some member of the faculty. The first catalog of the school had music in the course of study. Throughout the first years Robert Graham, although engaged for other duties, was the first to teach music as a regular branch of study offered in a normal school in Wisconsin.2

Of this work in music President Albee is quoted as saying: "Mr. Graham's teaching of music was marked by successful results warranting [its] admission to [the] curriculum of all normal schools, and ultimate employment of special teachers."

Through Mr. Albee's efforts, drawing, too, was early included in the curriculum of this school. The first catalog listed it with Miss Martha E. Hazard as the first teacher. An old examination paper of mine shows a very different conception of the purposes of that study from that held today. It tested my ability to draw plane geometrical figures and to write definitions of them, but this may have been merely one phase of the work.

Physical training was an especial hobby of Mrs. Albee, but unable to get what he wanted at first, he put calisthenics in the program. While this did not meet Mr. Albee's ideals for physical training, it was better than nothing. His maxim seems to have been: "The way to start a thing is to begin it, and not wait for ideal conditions."

Finally, after continued unsuccessful efforts to interest the board in the need of better physical training, it was agreed by the students and the president to assume the entire salary of a trained teacher of gymnastics, which arrangement was followed for five years. The board then added physical training to the curriculum of all the normal schools, appropriating for each $250 for that purpose. But as this was not enough to secure the sort of teachers they wanted, the Oshkosh students continued to add a like sum to the appropriation named.

Another innovation of the Oshkosh Normal School, even more important than music, drawing, and calisthenics, was that of putting professional work at the very beginning in stead of leaving it for the later years of the course, as was usual in the normal schools of that time. School management and the art of teaching are listed in the early catalogs as first year branches. So those attending for only a year were given something more than academic work, badly as that may have been needed. They learned to think of the problems which every teacher must face; they were imbued, or at least touched, with the spirit of teaching, and were instructed in the fundamentals of pedagogy.

In 1875 I was just in time to benefit by the introduction of laboratory work in science. About the development of this very important work President Albee says:

When the Oshkosh [Normal] school was established every school was guiltless of any working laboratory. ... In 1872 a request for a small appropriation for establishing of laboratory work in connection with the study of chemistry was made by the president, we having succeeded in obtaining a thoroughly trained man from the Columbia School of Mines as instructor. In response to a courteous request ... to furnish as estimate, the sum of $500 was named with specifications needed; but the estimate was deemed preposterously large, and we were promptly ruled out. In 1875 we returned to the attack, but warned by experience, named $150 for some pine tables and chemical reagent ware. This time that amount was granted in deference to our persistence; and for twelve years this was made to do excellent duty, while municipalities in many of the smaller towns of the state were building and equipping laboratories costing many times that amount. But laboratory work was begun and right foundations for the prosecution of the study laid with the primitive grant. Under this same professor, Dr. W. A. Kellerman, ... the true method od biological study was begun. ... These reminiscences are milestones in the path of progress in one generation, which arouse but a languid interest among those who are of today, but which had to be contended for single-handed at every step.3

Just when Mr. Albee wrote this, I do not know, but I detect a note of weariness in it.

When a complete history of the normal schools of Wisconsin is written, it will be found that many of the educational features of the curriculum, changed and adapted of course, had their origin in the Oshkosh Normal School and were initiated by George S. Albee. In all this work of advancement, Mr. Albee had the hearty coöperation of the faculty.

I have included in these memoirs this account of the beginnings, thinking that thus I might help to revive remembrance and appreciation of those professional men and women who in Oshkosh and elsewhere fought the battles for educational advancement in our state, while public opinion was slowly, slowly development a more enlighted attitude.

The Method School

That every essential part of a teacher-training institution, the school for observation and for practice, was from the first in most capable hands. It shared with the normal department the time and attention of President Albee, who was its real director. The board felt unable to appoint a person to direct only the Model School, so the three department, primary, intermediate, and grammar were put in charge of competent teachers, and each was help responsible for what went on.

The primary department from December, 1871 had as its critic teacher, Miss Rose C. Swart, and it was under her immediate direction that the first practice teaching was done. This vital part of teacher-training was soon taken up by the intermediate and grammar departments. When I became a student at Oshkosh, Miss Swart was required to teach geography, penmanship, and German. The primary department was then in charge of Miss Lucy A. Noyes. A temporary absence of Miss Noyes, on account of illness, brought to me an exceptional opportunity. I was asked by Mr. Albee to take charge of the department, probably because I had taught in a city primary grade. I gained much from the experience.

Rose C. Swart

It was as the teacher of geography that I first knew Miss Swart. This exceptional teacher left on me a lasting impression by her careful, incisive speech and her skill as a questioner. The highest compliment that I remember ever to have received as a teacher was that from a visitor in one of my classes, who told me that I reminded him of Miss Swart.

In 1883 Miss Swart was made assistant to President Albee in the supervision of practice teaching, and finally the entire responsibility of the department was hers. In conjunction with this work she became recognized as "the main spoke in the wheel" of that normal school, and through this service she immeasurably influenced the teaching in our state and elsewhere. She is best remembered by hundreds upon hundreds of men and women who feel indebted to her for having given them the right start in their teachings. She served the Oshkosh Normal School for half a century. The naming in 1929 of the beautiful new School of Practice in her honor is a deserved recognition and an appropriate memorial to that service. With her sister-in-law, Mrs. Swart, as her companion, she is now living in Washington, D. C., and enjoying to the limit of her strength the opportunities afforded by the nation's capital.

Course of Study

Something about the evolution of this course, so far as subjects are concerned, has already been given. The evolution of the time element, and the leadership of Oshkosh in that respect, is also interesting bit of history.

The course of study at the Oshkosh Normal was, at first, three years in length, as were those at Platteville and Whitewater, but the first graduating class from Oshkosh completed a four-year course. To Mr. Albee it seemed evident from the start that an extension of time was necessary for more thorough preparation. Here is his account of the way in which a year was added to the curriculum:

When the Oshkosh school was founded, the maximum course of study prescribed was one of three years, in which space of time a very wide range of subjects was attempted to be covered, resulting in superficial knowledge for all but the ablest minds. Early in the history of this school the faculty moved for an extension in time, in behalf of more thorough scholarship rather than for any further extension of curriculum. This move was begun with the students as well as with the Board of Regents, and in the third year every member of the highest class cordially consented and the first class of the Oshkosh Normal completed a four years' course, the first in any school in the state to do so....4

It was after this action by the class and the report upon it made by the president that the board in 1874 authorized in all state normal schools "a course of four years, and an elementary course of two years, graduation from these respectively to have, after preliminary experience, a legal value corresponding to the two grades of state certificate."

Class of 1875

Not only because they were members of the first class from the Oshkosh Normal School, but also because of the professional attitude displayed, and the consequences to other normal of the example set by them, this class of eight men and women deserves especial mention: Graduates from Advanced Course, 1875, John F. Burke, Armstrong Corners; William M. Graham, Oshkosh (only son of Robert Graham); Edward McLoughlin, Eldorado Mills; Harriet E. Clark, Margaret Hosford, Hudson; Mary Knisely, Oshkosh; Rachel L. Sutton, Columbus, and Emily F. Webster, Winneconne.

Of the class named, three are living today. Of the five others, the directory of graduates of 1912, Oshkosh, indicates the decease of John F. Burke and William Graham; Rachel Sutton who became Mrs. Young, died in Longbeach, California; Harriet E. Clark, after filling high school positions at La Crosse and Sheboygan, became teacher of elocution in the Oshkosh Normal School and died in 1926; Margaret Hosford taught in the Eau Claire high school and the normal school of River Falls and Whitewater.

Edward McLoughlin, M. D., lived for many years in Fond du Lac, being in turn country superintendent, editor and proprietor of the Fond du Lac Journal, principal of the high school, superintendent of school of Fond du Lac, and major of that city. After that he was principal of the Dewey School in Chicago where he still resides.

Mary Knisely and Emily Webster live in Oshkosh. After her graduation, Miss Webster immediately joined the faculty of the school as teacher of Latin. Besides that branch, she taught English and mathematics, the last being her chief subject. She remained in the school continuously for fifty years, her resignation having taken effect July 1, 1925. The following is copied from the report of Proceedings of the Board of Regents of Normal Schools:

Therefore, in recognition of this conspicuous and distinguished career, the Board of Regents of Normal Schools hereby tenders to Miss Webster on behalf of the people of the State of Wisconsin its sincere thanks and appreciation, and creates the position of Teacher of Arithmetic emerita at the Oshkosh Normal School, and request Miss Webster to accept said position and to continue to discharge the duties thereof at her pleasure.

It was not until the end of the first semester 1927-28 that Miss Webster closed her work as teacher. Residing in Oshkosh since 1871, when she came there as a pupil, she has taken an active part in the development of what is now the State Teachers College of that city. I am indebted to her for the facts here given about the class of 1875.

Some of those who attended the normal from Kenosha County in early years were: James Cavanaugh of Bristol, well remembered as a successful lawyer and prominent citizen of Kenosha, who was graduated from the elementary course in 1875; also Hattie M. Spence of Somers, and Frank E. Stephens of Bristol, who later served that community as a physician. Martin L. Smith came from Sylvania, Racine County. He died recently at Racine, where for forty-eight years he had been the principal of the Franklin School. Clarence M. Smith of Salem was at Oshkosh a year earlier than I,, as was also William Goffe, a near neighbor of my family in Kenosha. It was the enthusiastic account of the school by the latter that undoubtedly influenced my decision to go. Among those attending the same year as I, were William Middlecamp, who qualified for the office of superintendent of schools of Kenosha County, which office he held for several terms; another was James Devlin of Bristol, who followed teaching only long enough to make it possible to complete a medical course, after which he settled at Denver, where his death occurred many years ago. Cephas H. Leach was a student of the Kenosha high school. He then went to Chicago and was principal of one of the large elementary schools there until his death.

Reminiscence of Teachers and Teaching

My personal reminiscences of experiences in classes conducted by some of the teachers named above, will begin with Mr. Graham, in the subject orthoepy and oral reading. Orthoepy was then a very new addition to the list of required subjects in the course of study for the common schools, since the legislature in 1875 has passed a law authorizing that addition. The work consisted of drill on the accurate articulation of the elementary sounds of speech, spelling of words by sound, study of the treatise on orthoepy in the front of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, drill on the accurate pronunciation of marked lists, and the reverse process of writing upon the board and marking from memory lists of words assigned us for study. The subject seemed to be very difficult for some of the adult members of the class. Mr. Graham's patience, never very great with awkward or backward pupils, would sometimes give way entirely, resulting in very unpleasant scenes, which are a part of my association with this work.

But, like the pupil previously quoted. "We learned," and for me was started an interest in pronunciation that developed into ability much needed in my work of training teachers, and into a sensitiveness to errors of pronunciation, requisite for a critic of those who were preparing to be exemplary in speech. However, another result of Mr. Graham's course, probably not foreseen by him, was that through his stressing of diacritical marking, students carried away the idea that that was an end in itself, instead of a means to forming habits of correctness in spoken English. So there spread over all the state, not, however, all traceable back to Oshkosh, the practice of teaching diacritical markings of words.

As to phonetics, I still cling to the belief that if children are to be helped in the formation of right habits of speech, and, as beginning readers, to be trained for self-help in wordgetting, teachers themselves should have the knowledge and the skill which the study of phonetics affords. So, according to my motion, the Oshkosh Normal School scored, again, through emphasizing oral reading on the orthoepic side of that important subject.

Somewhat allied to orthoepy, since it also centered upon words, was the study of word analysis. Like orthoepy, it is also obsolete now. At Oshkosh an option was offered between words analysis and Latin. I feel sure that it had value for teachers, although other studies, believed to be more essential to changed conditions and demands have been substituted for it. This suggests the following quotation and comment: "Fitness means adaptation. Progress is best defined in terms of adaptation. Any change that makes a better adaptation to environment that teachers should feel an interest in words and be able to pass this interest on to pupils. What I mean is that opportunities should be used as they occur in teaching to impress the significance of root, prefix, or suffix or their combination in some English word, or to impress some bit of word-history in order to interest pupils in the only language that most of them will ever know.

There was on the faculty in 1875-76, a woman who produced an effect upon my future teaching, although not in so general a way as that produced by Miss Swart. She was Mary H. Ladd, teacher of mathematics. She was exceedingly nervous in manner, excitable, somewhat impatient, speaking with a rather high-pitched voice, firing questions with startling rapidity, designating the one to answer by pointing her long slim finger at him and saying "you!" Sometimes she judged the answer herself with the one word "right" or "wrong," "true" or "false." Sometimes she held the class responsible for the decision by saying "Right or wrong class!" Those differing were expected to justify the judgment expressed. Sometimes, woe to the inattentive, she attached a name, "True or false, Mr. Johnson?" or "Agree, Mr Johnson?" Mr. Johnson did not escape by saying "true" or "yes," but then followed, "What do you think is true?" or "What do you agree with?"

These were the characteristics of Miss Ladd's teaching. There was no chance for the bluffer, or the lazy-minded in her classroom. With such expenditure of nervous force, it is readily understood why Miss Ladd wore out before her time. She was needed to impress upon teachers the thing that remained with me as the real asset of my work with her, the vital relation of clearness of expression at every step in the logical of mathematical problems, to the development of clear, logical thinking.

My schooling at the Oshkosh Normal was just in time to include the benefits of the teaching of science in an objective way. I had botany under Professor Kellerman. This study was a great revelation to me. There was the new interest created by the microscope; the new knowledge of the physiology of plant life; the facts of sex in flowers; and the phenomena of fertilization with insect coöperation. I recall how this last named subject was at that time hardly considered as proper for teaching in a mixed class. Then, when spring came, a herbarium had to be prepared, which requirement recalls rambles in field and wood about Oshkosh, and pleasant excursions with friends.

It was evident in the class in school management taught by Mr. Albee that he has entirely changed his ideas on the question of corporal punishment since his early experience in the Kenosha schools. In that class he was heard to relate some cases of punishment handled by an anonymously mentioned young man in the early years of his career as a teacher, and how the remembrance of them had been a source of deep regret to that man. He advised the members of his class to try other ways of management, other says of punishment, when punishment was needed. Some of the incidents were very much like those I had heard related about him in Kenosha. I could not but conclude that he was the young man referred to.

In recalling these incidents about Mr. Albee as a disciplinarian, I trust that I many not charged with unkind motives. To me the evident change in ideals of school control adds to, rather than detracts from his character. For some reason, a new light seems to have dawned upon him, and he responded to that light. But this was before the development of sociology and before psychology had branched out into the varied fields that bear upon human conduct, especially child conduct. Mr. Albee was really ahead of his time, for there are still found in administrative and teaching work those who regard troublesome children as naturally bad, and who resort to punitive measures, instead of looking for evidences of maladjustment, and treating the child as the victim of conditions that are not right, and for which he is not responsible. So far as his advice to teachers went, on questions of child-treatment, President Albee was quite in accord with modern views.

Standards of Normal School Management

It was in the ideals of an orderly school more than in the teaching that the normal schools of half a century ago differed from those of today. The freedom allowed today was then not tolerated, and there were many restrictions that would now be considered unreasonable. No conversation, even of a quite undisturbing sort, was allowed in halls or cloak rooms. Students, most of them grown men and women, were expected to restrain all the impulses of social beings, when within the walls of the school, especially after school began. Passing to and from classes was very formal. We descended from third floor, two by two, each couple joining another at the foot of the stairs and entering the large assembly room four abreast, dispersing to our seats only after reaching the back of the room. Ideals of order had then rather a militaristic tinge.

Students were expected to be in their rooms at 7:30 for the keeping of regular study hours during the five school days. An exception was made when there was an educational lecture; but if they wanted to go elsewhere than to a lecture, permission had to be secured from President Albee. Since they did not live in dormitories, this was a rather difficult rule to enforce.

Dancing was forbidden. President Albee seems to have held unchanging prejudice against it, as the following excerpt indicates:

Dancing was tabooed during the first thirty-five years of the school's existence. President Albee was severe on either teachers or students who went to dances, characterizing them as "light in toe and head." But attendance at dances grew, especially with the growth of the high school graduate element in the student body. ... President Halsey [the successor of Mr. Albee in 1898] at first confined his disapproval to public dances and to dancing under the auspices of school organizations; but in time he came to favor a change in policy, feeling that the students might better do their dancing in school than surreptitiously outside of it. A majority of the faculty arrived at the same opinion, and on September 27, 1906, a resolution to introduce dancing was read in assembly....5

Like dancing, card playing was also disapproved. This also may have been question affected by the personal prejudice of the man at the head.

In an entirely different category from the two practices just mentioned is a third forbidden thing, namely smoking--different because the fundamental objections to it are as valid today as then, and because these objections are scientifically based, and not a matter of personal prejudice, or rather opinion. President Albee and his faculty believed then, as many experienced educators do today, that not only is the habit of using tobacco a handicap to a greater or less degree upon a person, and that with undeveloped youth it results in physical, mental, and moral damage, but that teachers should realize an especial responsibility to refrain because of the duty resting upon them not to set a bad example for the young growing up under their influence. General public opinion then supported that standard.

This restriction at that time affected only men students, and it is said that in 1876 at Oshkosh a young man who had completed the full course was refused a diploma because he smoked and, therefore, could not set a good example for the young. There was then no need of including women in the prohibition, for smoking was quite unheard of in the ranks from which school teachers were drawn. It is a "far cry" from then to now on this practice of teachers smoking! Although further comment is hardly called for here. I will say in regard to the tremendous change in public sentiment upon this question, that we have here an illustration of what skillful, insidious, artistic, persistent advertising propaganda for a cause involving millions of dollars of profit can accomplish. The attitude of the old school may be scouted as old-fashioned and out-dated, but tobacco still remains in the list of harmful narcotics and a certain psychological law still operates. Imitation, a master agent in shaping the conduct of the childhood and youth of boys and girls will cause them to be far more likely to do as a parent or teacher does, than as a parent or teacher says, about his question of smoking, or any other, affecting the physical or moral life.

Out-of School Activities Approved

What we know today as extra-curricular activities were not very numerous in the normal schools in 1875. In the line of athletics, football was unknown, but the spring season brought baseball.

There were two debating societies, to which both men and women were admitted. There was the Lyceum which was said to have been organized the first year of the school, and a newer one, the Phoenix. I was an active member of the former. The literary field seemed best adapted to the interests of the women members, while questions of politics and public affairs were left to the men.

Eighteen hundred seventy-six was the year of the great Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. As will be remembered by many, the educational exhibit there was one of the most prominent features, to which the Oshkosh Normal School students contributed their share.

Life was very simple back in 1875, and living expenses were correspondingly low, otherwise I would never have been able to live on the small amount of money I had. At the end of the year unexpected expenses were met by a loan from my brother. It was a year of hard study for me, with a reasonable admixture of pleasure. As its close, I felt sure that as soon as I could earn sufficient money, I should return to complete the full course, and in my final talk with President Albee that was the understanding.

The beneficial results of this schooling are shown by the fact that I was immediately offered the second assistantship in the Kenosha high school, which position I held for two years, 1876-78. This opportunity would not have come to me except for my normal school study.

In these days of advanced standards of preparation for high school work, it seems presumptuous that a young woman, approaching twenty-one years of age, with only one year of special preparation for it, and with a rather meager academic background, should have been thought qualified to do high school teaching. But it must be remembered that at that time those who had even one year of normal school training were rather few.

1 The First Half-Century of the Oshkosh Normal School, p. 6, a pamphlet published under date of October 1, 1921, by the faculty of the school. This pamphlet has been a most valuable help to me in corroborating my recollection of teachers and events and furnishing important and interesting information. For its use I am indebted to a friend and classmate of 1875, Miss Sarah James.

2 Ibid., 9.

3 Ibid, 10-11.

4 Ibid, 12.

5 Ibid., 34.